New England Public Radio

Historian Looks To Change The Hoosic (Hoosac, Hoosuck) River’s Name

A historian wants to change the spelling of a river that runs through Northern Berkshire County. The Hoosic River has been spelled at least three different ways.

Barry Emery of the Cheshire Historical Commission says a map from 1776 spelled the river H-O-O-S-U-C-K. By the late 1700s, he says, the spelling was H-O-O-S-A-C. Right now, it’s H-O-O-S-I-C.

Confused yet?

Emery believes this most recent spelling is a mistake that kept getting copied over and over, and now it’s time to change it back.

“If we call the river Hoosic with an I-C, and yet we’re in the Hoosac Valley with an A-C and we’re near the Hoosac Mountains with an A-C, it gets very confusing,” Emery says.

Emery has permission from the Cheshire Select Board to pursue the change with the state. And Emery adds, if the president can rename an Alaskan mountain, why not try to rename a river in western Massachusetts?

Lanesborough Ponders Where To Send Secondary Students

As schools open across the region this week, the students in grades 7 through 12 in Lanesborough, Massachusetts, have suddenly, become more popular. One school district wants them and another hopes to keep them, and there’s a lot riding on where the kids end up.

Lanesborough has been sending its secondary students to Mt. Greylock High School in Williamstown for over five decades, with more than 160 attending classes there this year. Recently, the Adams-Cheshire district made a pitch to Lanesborough to send their students to its Hoosac Valley  high school instead. Adams Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco says with the money that would accompany the Lanesborough students, the school could expand academic offerings.

“Certificate programs, that students would go to Hoosac Valley [High School], and get a certificate in maybe nursing or business or STEM or engineering or something similar,” Mazzucco says. “As well, some expanded language offerings and there’s a couple of other things they’ve talked about as well.”

Money is a big part of this. Lanesborough’s town administrator, Paul Sieloff, says the cost of sending students to Mt. Greylock went up by about four percent this year. And if they stay with the current district, taxpayers could be on the hook for part of the cost of building a new high school. He says all options should be weighed, including paying tuition to send some, if not all, secondary students to the less-expensive Hoosac Valley.

“The town could potentially save $10,000 per student, per year,” Sieloff says. “Twenty or 30 students going up there would be a $200- to $300,000 savings, which is very significant.”

Meanwhile, in Williamstown, Mt. Greylock School Committee Chair Carrie Greene says she’s disheartened by the discussion. She says if Lanesborough left the district, the effects could be devastating.

“Without the kids in Lanesborough, there is no Mount Greylock,” Greene says. “There is no building project, there is no school district as we know it. We need each other in order to sustain the excellent programming that we have.”

The Lanesborough Select Board is scheduled to discuss its options later this month. It would likely take at least a few years before any changes are made.